One minute, God is leading him to a brook where He provides food and water for the beleaguered prophet. To all appearances, it looks like Elijah has finally reached safety, but then the brook dries up.

“Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.” — 1 Kings 17:7, NIV

Then, to make matters worse, God tells Elijah to go to a widow’s house — not a rich widow — but a poor one who’s in the middle of preparing her last meal for her and her son.

Does this seem like a good strategic plan to you?

Yet, Elijah’s story is something we can all relate to at one time or another in our lives.

God tells you to do something. You follow His guidance, but then your resources dry up, and you face disagreements with your co-workers, family and friends. Then you can’t help but wonder if the God you serve really knows what He’s doing.

Actually, He does.

The God we serve is in the business of resistance training. He wants to fortify your faith. And that can’t happen if you don’t have disappointments or obstacles that challenge it.

I am not trying to trivialize the circumstances that some of you are going through as mere faith-building exercises. They may be downright painful. However, I want to encourage you to not give up.

If your personal brook is drying up, be assured that God knows. And He will act in the right time and in the right manner to ensure that you have what you need.

One of my favorite quotes came from my campus minister during a hard time. He lovingly looked me in the eye and said, “Katie, imagine the faith you’d have if you WEREN’T going through this.” Remembering that helps so much because it’s in the trials that we grow the most.

This was very timely! Some days as you try to give everything to God and serve Him you get beat up so much and your sanity even questioned that you want to give up and go back to being pew sitting Christian. Thank you so much!